It is well worth the wait though, for such an awesome and enjoyable project.
Seeing this at once inspires me for and slightly discourages me from my own possible re-boot of my speculative zoo design projects.
Mr Gharial's zoo design
- Thread starter Mr Gharial
- Start date
It is well worth the wait though, for such an awesome and enjoyable project.
Seeing this at once inspires me for and slightly discourages me from my own possible re-boot of my speculative zoo design projects.
Van Beal
Well-Known Member
This is the whole spec zoo design process (at least personally) summed up.
Alright folks, it has been... Oof, 2 months since part 6 of O Rio Dourado. It is June and I am gayer than ever (that is, I have a new profile pic for the month) and I hope to continue the rest of the project this month. However, I will also be going to the Alps where, although I can design, I likely won't be able to upload anything. Just know that I will be continuing to work on the design!
First though, a different Wetlands Park Europe event; in June!
Wetlands park, like most other zoos, has various events throughout the year. WPE is different in the fact that we like to make our events regional. By that I mean that events and celebrations are usually restricted to the separate regions/continents of Wetlands park. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Meyer's Creek is decorated in Halloween attire for the month of October. The East Asian regions, although I haven't covered them yet, will have a spring Blossom event when the Cherry trees bloom with dragon dancers and late night events. And, despite my hatred for the winter holidays, the European regions have a "festival of lights" in the winter.
The June pride event is different though, as it's one of the few events that can be found throughout the whole zoo. For those who don't know, Pride month celebrates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in the US for queer liberation. So what does that look like in the park?
A route will be set up throughout the zoo highlighting queer behaviour in various creatures in the animal kingdom, with temporary signs highlighting the various queer identities and how certain animals represent them. Along with that, there will be queer flags throughout the park in various, and usually silly ways. For example, for the duration of June the restaurants in WPE will be serving "the gender fluids", layered mocktails with the colours of the trans, non-binary and genderqueer flags. There will also be temporary aquariums in a few of the indoor spaces with rainbow cherry shrimp. That is, seven nano tanks in each major indoor space, each holding a different colour of N. davidi.
Now, we're all quite knowledgeable on animals here, but I think I can pretty safely assume you're not all as familiar with the all the queer identities and what they mean. There are too many animals with "queer behaviour" in nature to name a full list, but I can do a rundown of a few of our main examples.
Gay / homosexuality between males: the Giraffe!
Giraffes display some of the highest frequency of male homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom, with more homosexual coupling than heterosexual coupling. That is, between males. Lesbianism is rather rare in giraffes.
Lesbian / homosexuality between females: the Whiptail lizard!
Although wetlands park holds a different genus of Whiptail than the "Lesbian" whiptails (O Rio Dourado having Cnemidophorus whiptails, rather than Aspidoscelis whiptails), they will still be featured on our queer route through the park. As multiple Aspidoscelis whiptail species are all-female and reproduce asexually. So why not use them as asexual representation? Well, they still tend to pair up and mate to stimulate ovulation.
Homosexuality in general: the Penguin!
Quite possibly the most famous of the gay animals, partially for their cute appearance, and partially because there's a children's book, And Tango makes three, on a gay penguin couple in the Central Park zoo. They're also the perfect example of the famous phrase "be gay, do crime", as they're frequent egg thieves.
Bisexuality*: the Guppy!
Although I'm basing this mostly on anecdotes and not any scientific papers, male Guppies have shown attraction to both males and females. With some being fully homosexual, and some having preference for females, but also getting it on with males.
Pansexuality*: the Bonobo!
Possibly one of the most sexually active animals, they commonly solve issues with sexual interaction, without much preference for male or female.
Demisexuality*: the Red-crowned crane!
Although projecting demisexuality onto animals requires a bit of anthropomorphism, cranes (and admittedly, also quite a few other bird species) do come pretty close to the definition. As they mate for life, but go through a rigorous (and sometimes brutal) mating process before nesting. This is less of a real example in the animal kingdom, and more an excuse to explain this lesser known sexuality.
Asexuality: the Komodo dragon!
Although asexual reproduction is decently common in herps, especially amphibians, Komodo dragons are a bit of a special case. Most of Komodo dragon reproduction is done sexually, but some females seem to prefer doing it asexually, even when males are present.
Transgender: the Clownfish!
I don't think there's all that much explanation to be done here. Although multiple fish do it, the clownfish is probably the most famous example of any gender-changing animal
Genderqueer: the Snail and the Honeybee!
Since almost no human gender identity matches up perfectly with any particular animal, I'm going to keep it at "genderqueer". A lot of molluscs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs, but snails are probably the most known hermaphrodites among the public. Our second example is the Honeybee, although it also extends to similar animals like ants. The closer you look at the "genders" of bees, the weirder it seems that we're even applying the word "gender" to them. Although, biologically speaking, they are usually assigned to male and female, bee and ant genders are more similar to jobs or castes. The three caste system, Queen, Worker and Drone, would be a much better system to describe how bees and ants work, rather than male and female.
Gender non-conforming: the Spotted hyena and the Cuttlefish!
Assigning gender roles to animals is really quite silly, but also something that a surprising amount of people still do. As zoo nerds I assume most of us are familiar with the female Hyena's pseudopenis, but this isn't exactly common knowledge. It's also one of the few species with a rank-based hierarchy where the females are on top, with even the youngest females ranking above the older males. Our second example is the Cuttlefish, the males of certain species will sometimes present feminine in order to trick larger males to let them mate with females.
These are only a few of the examples, of course, and there will also be signs on female-presenting male Garter snakes, American alligators generally being pansexual, Graylings presenting both m/m and f/f homosexuality, etc. There will also be some examples from other zoos included (the Blue ducks at Arundel Wetlands trust who messed up the breeding programme, the gay Vultures in both Artis and Beekse Bergen, who regularly adopt and raise chicks from other zoos, and of course the many, many gay penguins spread around zoos), and any gay animals from Wetlands park will of course be highlighted.
There is another fun (and purposely very silly) mini-display restricted to a small section of the great boardwalk right after the Kesaru jungle. Inspired by the Paradisebirds of New Guinea, there will be a pride exhibition with both a photo collage of drag queens wearing extravagant bird-of-paradise inspired costumes and even a looping video (bloopers absolutely included) of the queens trying to replicate the silly dances/displays that the male birds-of-paradise perform.
As for updates on O Rio Dourado, part 8 and 9 are mostly designed, but part 7 is still in the "rough sketch" phase. It shouldn't take too long to detail, but what will take long is the description. Despite being a smaller section of the greenhouse, being comparable to part 3, it does have the most species of any of the regions. Thanks in most part to the Pikin Meti towers, I'm going to keep that vague unless you want to figure out how to translate surinamese
.
Happy pride month from your favourite bisexual gharial!
First though, a different Wetlands Park Europe event; in June!
Wetlands park, like most other zoos, has various events throughout the year. WPE is different in the fact that we like to make our events regional. By that I mean that events and celebrations are usually restricted to the separate regions/continents of Wetlands park. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Meyer's Creek is decorated in Halloween attire for the month of October. The East Asian regions, although I haven't covered them yet, will have a spring Blossom event when the Cherry trees bloom with dragon dancers and late night events. And, despite my hatred for the winter holidays, the European regions have a "festival of lights" in the winter.
The June pride event is different though, as it's one of the few events that can be found throughout the whole zoo. For those who don't know, Pride month celebrates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in the US for queer liberation. So what does that look like in the park?
A route will be set up throughout the zoo highlighting queer behaviour in various creatures in the animal kingdom, with temporary signs highlighting the various queer identities and how certain animals represent them. Along with that, there will be queer flags throughout the park in various, and usually silly ways. For example, for the duration of June the restaurants in WPE will be serving "the gender fluids", layered mocktails with the colours of the trans, non-binary and genderqueer flags. There will also be temporary aquariums in a few of the indoor spaces with rainbow cherry shrimp. That is, seven nano tanks in each major indoor space, each holding a different colour of N. davidi.
Now, we're all quite knowledgeable on animals here, but I think I can pretty safely assume you're not all as familiar with the all the queer identities and what they mean. There are too many animals with "queer behaviour" in nature to name a full list, but I can do a rundown of a few of our main examples.
Gay / homosexuality between males: the Giraffe!
Giraffes display some of the highest frequency of male homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom, with more homosexual coupling than heterosexual coupling. That is, between males. Lesbianism is rather rare in giraffes.
Lesbian / homosexuality between females: the Whiptail lizard!
Although wetlands park holds a different genus of Whiptail than the "Lesbian" whiptails (O Rio Dourado having Cnemidophorus whiptails, rather than Aspidoscelis whiptails), they will still be featured on our queer route through the park. As multiple Aspidoscelis whiptail species are all-female and reproduce asexually. So why not use them as asexual representation? Well, they still tend to pair up and mate to stimulate ovulation.
Homosexuality in general: the Penguin!
Quite possibly the most famous of the gay animals, partially for their cute appearance, and partially because there's a children's book, And Tango makes three, on a gay penguin couple in the Central Park zoo. They're also the perfect example of the famous phrase "be gay, do crime", as they're frequent egg thieves.
Bisexuality*: the Guppy!
Although I'm basing this mostly on anecdotes and not any scientific papers, male Guppies have shown attraction to both males and females. With some being fully homosexual, and some having preference for females, but also getting it on with males.
Pansexuality*: the Bonobo!
Possibly one of the most sexually active animals, they commonly solve issues with sexual interaction, without much preference for male or female.
Demisexuality*: the Red-crowned crane!
Although projecting demisexuality onto animals requires a bit of anthropomorphism, cranes (and admittedly, also quite a few other bird species) do come pretty close to the definition. As they mate for life, but go through a rigorous (and sometimes brutal) mating process before nesting. This is less of a real example in the animal kingdom, and more an excuse to explain this lesser known sexuality.
Asexuality: the Komodo dragon!
Although asexual reproduction is decently common in herps, especially amphibians, Komodo dragons are a bit of a special case. Most of Komodo dragon reproduction is done sexually, but some females seem to prefer doing it asexually, even when males are present.
Transgender: the Clownfish!
I don't think there's all that much explanation to be done here. Although multiple fish do it, the clownfish is probably the most famous example of any gender-changing animal
Genderqueer: the Snail and the Honeybee!
Since almost no human gender identity matches up perfectly with any particular animal, I'm going to keep it at "genderqueer". A lot of molluscs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs, but snails are probably the most known hermaphrodites among the public. Our second example is the Honeybee, although it also extends to similar animals like ants. The closer you look at the "genders" of bees, the weirder it seems that we're even applying the word "gender" to them. Although, biologically speaking, they are usually assigned to male and female, bee and ant genders are more similar to jobs or castes. The three caste system, Queen, Worker and Drone, would be a much better system to describe how bees and ants work, rather than male and female.
Gender non-conforming: the Spotted hyena and the Cuttlefish!
Assigning gender roles to animals is really quite silly, but also something that a surprising amount of people still do. As zoo nerds I assume most of us are familiar with the female Hyena's pseudopenis, but this isn't exactly common knowledge. It's also one of the few species with a rank-based hierarchy where the females are on top, with even the youngest females ranking above the older males. Our second example is the Cuttlefish, the males of certain species will sometimes present feminine in order to trick larger males to let them mate with females.
These are only a few of the examples, of course, and there will also be signs on female-presenting male Garter snakes, American alligators generally being pansexual, Graylings presenting both m/m and f/f homosexuality, etc. There will also be some examples from other zoos included (the Blue ducks at Arundel Wetlands trust who messed up the breeding programme, the gay Vultures in both Artis and Beekse Bergen, who regularly adopt and raise chicks from other zoos, and of course the many, many gay penguins spread around zoos), and any gay animals from Wetlands park will of course be highlighted.
There is another fun (and purposely very silly) mini-display restricted to a small section of the great boardwalk right after the Kesaru jungle. Inspired by the Paradisebirds of New Guinea, there will be a pride exhibition with both a photo collage of drag queens wearing extravagant bird-of-paradise inspired costumes and even a looping video (bloopers absolutely included) of the queens trying to replicate the silly dances/displays that the male birds-of-paradise perform.
As for updates on O Rio Dourado, part 8 and 9 are mostly designed, but part 7 is still in the "rough sketch" phase. It shouldn't take too long to detail, but what will take long is the description. Despite being a smaller section of the greenhouse, being comparable to part 3, it does have the most species of any of the regions. Thanks in most part to the Pikin Meti towers, I'm going to keep that vague unless you want to figure out how to translate surinamese
.Happy pride month from your favourite bisexual gharial!
* = Technically speaking, there is no true difference between bisexuality and pansexuality, and bi/pan people usually pick which label they want to belong to based on whichever one they like more. However, for purposes of differentiating between the two; Bisexual means you're attracted to multiple genders in different ways/with preference, Pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender, and demisexual (which does have a more rigid definition but I'll list it anyway) is only being sexually attracted to someone after emotional connection.
Alright folks, it has been... Oof, 2 months since part 6 of O Rio Dourado. It is June and I am gayer than ever (that is, I have a new profile pic for the month) and I hope to continue the rest of the project this month. However, I will also be going to the Alps where, although I can design, I likely won't be able to upload anything. Just know that I will be continuing to work on the design!
First though, a different Wetlands Park Europe event; in June!
Wetlands park, like most other zoos, has various events throughout the year. WPE is different in the fact that we like to make our events regional. By that I mean that events and celebrations are usually restricted to the separate regions/continents of Wetlands park. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Meyer's Creek is decorated in Halloween attire for the month of October. The East Asian regions, although I haven't covered them yet, will have a spring Blossom event when the Cherry trees bloom with dragon dancers and late night events. And, despite my hatred for the winter holidays, the European regions have a "festival of lights" in the winter.
The June pride event is different though, as it's one of the few events that can be found throughout the whole zoo. For those who don't know, Pride month celebrates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in the US for queer liberation. So what does that look like in the park?
A route will be set up throughout the zoo highlighting queer behaviour in various creatures in the animal kingdom, with temporary signs highlighting the various queer identities and how certain animals represent them. Along with that, there will be queer flags throughout the park in various, and usually silly ways. For example, for the duration of June the restaurants in WPE will be serving "the gender fluids", layered mocktails with the colours of the trans, non-binary and genderqueer flags. There will also be temporary aquariums in a few of the indoor spaces with rainbow cherry shrimp. That is, seven nano tanks in each major indoor space, each holding a different colour of N. davidi.
Now, we're all quite knowledgeable on animals here, but I think I can pretty safely assume you're not all as familiar with the all the queer identities and what they mean. There are too many animals with "queer behaviour" in nature to name a full list, but I can do a rundown of a few of our main examples.
Gay / homosexuality between males: the Giraffe!
Giraffes display some of the highest frequency of male homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom, with more homosexual coupling than heterosexual coupling. That is, between males. Lesbianism is rather rare in giraffes.
Lesbian / homosexuality between females: the Whiptail lizard!
Although wetlands park holds a different genus of Whiptail than the "Lesbian" whiptails (O Rio Dourado having Cnemidophorus whiptails, rather than Aspidoscelis whiptails), they will still be featured on our queer route through the park. As multiple Aspidoscelis whiptail species are all-female and reproduce asexually. So why not use them as asexual representation? Well, they still tend to pair up and mate to stimulate ovulation.
Homosexuality in general: the Penguin!
Quite possibly the most famous of the gay animals, partially for their cute appearance, and partially because there's a children's book, And Tango makes three, on a gay penguin couple in the Central Park zoo. They're also the perfect example of the famous phrase "be gay, do crime", as they're frequent egg thieves.
Bisexuality*: the Guppy!
Although I'm basing this mostly on anecdotes and not any scientific papers, male Guppies have shown attraction to both males and females. With some being fully homosexual, and some having preference for females, but also getting it on with males.
Pansexuality*: the Bonobo!
Possibly one of the most sexually active animals, they commonly solve issues with sexual interaction, without much preference for male or female.
Demisexuality*: the Red-crowned crane!
Although projecting demisexuality onto animals requires a bit of anthropomorphism, cranes (and admittedly, also quite a few other bird species) do come pretty close to the definition. As they mate for life, but go through a rigorous (and sometimes brutal) mating process before nesting. This is less of a real example in the animal kingdom, and more an excuse to explain this lesser known sexuality.
Asexuality: the Komodo dragon!
Although asexual reproduction is decently common in herps, especially amphibians, Komodo dragons are a bit of a special case. Most of Komodo dragon reproduction is done sexually, but some females seem to prefer doing it asexually, even when males are present.
Transgender: the Clownfish!
I don't think there's all that much explanation to be done here. Although multiple fish do it, the clownfish is probably the most famous example of any gender-changing animal
Genderqueer: the Snail and the Honeybee!
Since almost no human gender identity matches up perfectly with any particular animal, I'm going to keep it at "genderqueer". A lot of molluscs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs, but snails are probably the most known hermaphrodites among the public. Our second example is the Honeybee, although it also extends to similar animals like ants. The closer you look at the "genders" of bees, the weirder it seems that we're even applying the word "gender" to them. Although, biologically speaking, they are usually assigned to male and female, bee and ant genders are more similar to jobs or castes. The three caste system, Queen, Worker and Drone, would be a much better system to describe how bees and ants work, rather than male and female.
Gender non-conforming: the Spotted hyena and the Cuttlefish!
Assigning gender roles to animals is really quite silly, but also something that a surprising amount of people still do. As zoo nerds I assume most of us are familiar with the female Hyena's pseudopenis, but this isn't exactly common knowledge. It's also one of the few species with a rank-based hierarchy where the females are on top, with even the youngest females ranking above the older males. Our second example is the Cuttlefish, the males of certain species will sometimes present feminine in order to trick larger males to let them mate with females.
These are only a few of the examples, of course, and there will also be signs on female-presenting male Garter snakes, American alligators generally being pansexual, Graylings presenting both m/m and f/f homosexuality, etc. There will also be some examples from other zoos included (the Blue ducks at Arundel Wetlands trust who messed up the breeding programme, the gay Vultures in both Artis and Beekse Bergen, who regularly adopt and raise chicks from other zoos, and of course the many, many gay penguins spread around zoos), and any gay animals from Wetlands park will of course be highlighted.
There is another fun (and purposely very silly) mini-display restricted to a small section of the great boardwalk right after the Kesaru jungle. Inspired by the Paradisebirds of New Guinea, there will be a pride exhibition with both a photo collage of drag queens wearing extravagant bird-of-paradise inspired costumes and even a looping video (bloopers absolutely included) of the queens trying to replicate the silly dances/displays that the male birds-of-paradise perform.
As for updates on O Rio Dourado, part 8 and 9 are mostly designed, but part 7 is still in the "rough sketch" phase. It shouldn't take too long to detail, but what will take long is the description. Despite being a smaller section of the greenhouse, being comparable to part 3, it does have the most species of any of the regions. Thanks in most part to the Pikin Meti towers, I'm going to keep that vague unless you want to figure out how to translate surinamese
Happy pride month from your favourite bisexual gharial!
* = Technically speaking, there is no true difference between bisexuality and pansexuality, and bi/pan people usually pick which label they want to belong to based on whichever one they like more. However, for purposes of differentiating between the two; Bisexual means you're attracted to multiple genders in different ways/with preference, Pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender, and demisexual (which does have a more rigid definition but I'll list it anyway) is only being sexually attracted to someone after emotional connection.
Utter woke nonsense!
In all seriousness, this is a really unique idea and would be very interesting to see come to fruition.
Thanks but for the love of all that's queer don't scare me like that lol
Sorry
I thought it best to add the second part explicitly to ensure my British sense of humour came through
Last edited:
Sorry
And thank goodness for that. I do think it's quite funny in hindsight but WOW did I get a mini heart attack when I saw those first three words in my email
Slight hiccup (that, to be fair, I could've anticipated). There really isn't a good spot for me to comfortably design on my laptop, so continuing the designing process will have to wait until I'm back home... However, there is some good news!
Mountain air (or maybe just mountain vibes (or, realistically, the lack of good wifi)) always really clears up my artist's block. I've shown a few sketches over my projects, including the terrarium sketch in part 6 or O Rio Dourado, and now I'm planning on doing a few more sketches and drawings of a few of O Rio Dourado's locations.
I'm currently working on a drawing of the Macaw cliff aviary in the greenhouse. I also want to make drawings of the Spider monkey Sula habitat and a few of the areas I haven't even shown yet... Now, I have all of these things perfectly envisioned in my head, but you guys have to make do with my maps and reference photos, so if you guys have any areas or things you want to see drawings of, feel free to mention it and I will... well, I will attempt to draw them! Keep in mind my landscape drawings are decent, but limited. This isn't limited to just O Rio Dourado, so other areas of Wetlands park, or maybe even other projects completely, can also be requested! I'll be uploading all the sketches and drawings at the end of my vacation in around two weeks (except the sketches of areas I haven't shown yet of course).
Paul.Haerle
Well-Known Member
I‘d like to see a part of De Savanna, as it‘s in my opinion the best area in your zoo design
Alright guys, back in the Netherlands (still planning to draw though) and now working on detailing parts 7-10. As you've already seen though, both the entrance and exit of O Rio Dourado's second route partially go underground. The issue is that I now have 3 maps for 4 parts of O Rio Dourado.
You go through a cave under the Jaguar plateau to get to part 7, then a larger underground section making up part 8, part 9 is another open air region, and part 10 is underground again. But the first area of part 7 and parts 8 and 10 are all on the same map, and separating them to several maps is a bit difficult, since having the whole picture of the three caves works better visually.
So I leave it up to you guys; what's better?
- Keep it "chronological" to the route we're walking, and split the cave system in three parts, which does mean some "puzzle piece" issues where you won't get the whole picture until the end.
or
- Keep the caves together, doing the last two "outdoor" greenhouse areas first and then connecting them with the cavern route in a separate post, which does mean we get the last four parts out of order.
I can't do a poll mid-thread so please do comment (like and no comment I'll assume you have no preference)
You go through a cave under the Jaguar plateau to get to part 7, then a larger underground section making up part 8, part 9 is another open air region, and part 10 is underground again. But the first area of part 7 and parts 8 and 10 are all on the same map, and separating them to several maps is a bit difficult, since having the whole picture of the three caves works better visually.
So I leave it up to you guys; what's better?
- Keep it "chronological" to the route we're walking, and split the cave system in three parts, which does mean some "puzzle piece" issues where you won't get the whole picture until the end.
or
- Keep the caves together, doing the last two "outdoor" greenhouse areas first and then connecting them with the cavern route in a separate post, which does mean we get the last four parts out of order.
I can't do a poll mid-thread so please do comment (like and no comment I'll assume you have no preference)
Even if the arrangement of the “outdoor” greenhouses and the caverns will be out of order. I don’t mind following the latter route that I quoted above.
Where did you find that about the guppy's? Knowing them, i believe it immediatly but would like to know where it came fromAlright folks, it has been... Oof, 2 months since part 6 of O Rio Dourado. It is June and I am gayer than ever (that is, I have a new profile pic for the month) and I hope to continue the rest of the project this month. However, I will also be going to the Alps where, although I can design, I likely won't be able to upload anything. Just know that I will be continuing to work on the design!
First though, a different Wetlands Park Europe event; in June!
Wetlands park, like most other zoos, has various events throughout the year. WPE is different in the fact that we like to make our events regional. By that I mean that events and celebrations are usually restricted to the separate regions/continents of Wetlands park. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Meyer's Creek is decorated in Halloween attire for the month of October. The East Asian regions, although I haven't covered them yet, will have a spring Blossom event when the Cherry trees bloom with dragon dancers and late night events. And, despite my hatred for the winter holidays, the European regions have a "festival of lights" in the winter.
The June pride event is different though, as it's one of the few events that can be found throughout the whole zoo. For those who don't know, Pride month celebrates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in the US for queer liberation. So what does that look like in the park?
A route will be set up throughout the zoo highlighting queer behaviour in various creatures in the animal kingdom, with temporary signs highlighting the various queer identities and how certain animals represent them. Along with that, there will be queer flags throughout the park in various, and usually silly ways. For example, for the duration of June the restaurants in WPE will be serving "the gender fluids", layered mocktails with the colours of the trans, non-binary and genderqueer flags. There will also be temporary aquariums in a few of the indoor spaces with rainbow cherry shrimp. That is, seven nano tanks in each major indoor space, each holding a different colour of N. davidi.
Now, we're all quite knowledgeable on animals here, but I think I can pretty safely assume you're not all as familiar with the all the queer identities and what they mean. There are too many animals with "queer behaviour" in nature to name a full list, but I can do a rundown of a few of our main examples.
Gay / homosexuality between males: the Giraffe!
Giraffes display some of the highest frequency of male homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom, with more homosexual coupling than heterosexual coupling. That is, between males. Lesbianism is rather rare in giraffes.
Lesbian / homosexuality between females: the Whiptail lizard!
Although wetlands park holds a different genus of Whiptail than the "Lesbian" whiptails (O Rio Dourado having Cnemidophorus whiptails, rather than Aspidoscelis whiptails), they will still be featured on our queer route through the park. As multiple Aspidoscelis whiptail species are all-female and reproduce asexually. So why not use them as asexual representation? Well, they still tend to pair up and mate to stimulate ovulation.
Homosexuality in general: the Penguin!
Quite possibly the most famous of the gay animals, partially for their cute appearance, and partially because there's a children's book, And Tango makes three, on a gay penguin couple in the Central Park zoo. They're also the perfect example of the famous phrase "be gay, do crime", as they're frequent egg thieves.
Bisexuality*: the Guppy!
Although I'm basing this mostly on anecdotes and not any scientific papers, male Guppies have shown attraction to both males and females. With some being fully homosexual, and some having preference for females, but also getting it on with males.
Pansexuality*: the Bonobo!
Possibly one of the most sexually active animals, they commonly solve issues with sexual interaction, without much preference for male or female.
Demisexuality*: the Red-crowned crane!
Although projecting demisexuality onto animals requires a bit of anthropomorphism, cranes (and admittedly, also quite a few other bird species) do come pretty close to the definition. As they mate for life, but go through a rigorous (and sometimes brutal) mating process before nesting. This is less of a real example in the animal kingdom, and more an excuse to explain this lesser known sexuality.
Asexuality: the Komodo dragon!
Although asexual reproduction is decently common in herps, especially amphibians, Komodo dragons are a bit of a special case. Most of Komodo dragon reproduction is done sexually, but some females seem to prefer doing it asexually, even when males are present.
Transgender: the Clownfish!
I don't think there's all that much explanation to be done here. Although multiple fish do it, the clownfish is probably the most famous example of any gender-changing animal
Genderqueer: the Snail and the Honeybee!
Since almost no human gender identity matches up perfectly with any particular animal, I'm going to keep it at "genderqueer". A lot of molluscs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs, but snails are probably the most known hermaphrodites among the public. Our second example is the Honeybee, although it also extends to similar animals like ants. The closer you look at the "genders" of bees, the weirder it seems that we're even applying the word "gender" to them. Although, biologically speaking, they are usually assigned to male and female, bee and ant genders are more similar to jobs or castes. The three caste system, Queen, Worker and Drone, would be a much better system to describe how bees and ants work, rather than male and female.
Gender non-conforming: the Spotted hyena and the Cuttlefish!
Assigning gender roles to animals is really quite silly, but also something that a surprising amount of people still do. As zoo nerds I assume most of us are familiar with the female Hyena's pseudopenis, but this isn't exactly common knowledge. It's also one of the few species with a rank-based hierarchy where the females are on top, with even the youngest females ranking above the older males. Our second example is the Cuttlefish, the males of certain species will sometimes present feminine in order to trick larger males to let them mate with females.
These are only a few of the examples, of course, and there will also be signs on female-presenting male Garter snakes, American alligators generally being pansexual, Graylings presenting both m/m and f/f homosexuality, etc. There will also be some examples from other zoos included (the Blue ducks at Arundel Wetlands trust who messed up the breeding programme, the gay Vultures in both Artis and Beekse Bergen, who regularly adopt and raise chicks from other zoos, and of course the many, many gay penguins spread around zoos), and any gay animals from Wetlands park will of course be highlighted.
There is another fun (and purposely very silly) mini-display restricted to a small section of the great boardwalk right after the Kesaru jungle. Inspired by the Paradisebirds of New Guinea, there will be a pride exhibition with both a photo collage of drag queens wearing extravagant bird-of-paradise inspired costumes and even a looping video (bloopers absolutely included) of the queens trying to replicate the silly dances/displays that the male birds-of-paradise perform.
As for updates on O Rio Dourado, part 8 and 9 are mostly designed, but part 7 is still in the "rough sketch" phase. It shouldn't take too long to detail, but what will take long is the description. Despite being a smaller section of the greenhouse, being comparable to part 3, it does have the most species of any of the regions. Thanks in most part to the Pikin Meti towers, I'm going to keep that vague unless you want to figure out how to translate surinamese
Happy pride month from your favourite bisexual gharial!
* = Technically speaking, there is no true difference between bisexuality and pansexuality, and bi/pan people usually pick which label they want to belong to based on whichever one they like more. However, for purposes of differentiating between the two; Bisexual means you're attracted to multiple genders in different ways/with preference, Pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender, and demisexual (which does have a more rigid definition but I'll list it anyway) is only being sexually attracted to someone after emotional connection.
I've seen a few other posts with similar stories, here's one I could find quickly
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MClaeys
Well-Known Member
So, there are coming some caverns. Interesting choice. Keeping them together looks like the best option to me.
I apologise for the graininess, I had to do some touch-ups with contrast and sharpness and such to make sure the sketch is actually visible, I wasn't exactly in the mood to colour the whole thing.
The scale and perspective are certainly off, but I'm quite happy with it as a concept sketch. For obvious reasons I left the aviary out of the sketch for visibility reasons.
I'm also working on a sketch of the entrance to the greenhouse, with the rock arch and the little plaza between the Jaguar exhibit and the Spectacled owls. But the perspective it even more difficult with this one, especially with the arch and cave combo, so we'll see if I ever figure that one out... I will try to make a few more sketches, but after that I'm going back to Frankensteining images together to get concept art
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Oh my god ok it's happening everybody STAY CALM
HOLD ONTO YOUR-
HOLD ONTO YOUR-
